You’ve covered the material. You’ve reviewed. And still, your students come in unprepared.

Meet a test prep tool students actually enjoy using. Millions of AP students & high schoolers already use Knowt to turn your class materials into study guides, interactive study modes, and practice tests that click.

🃏 Flashcards & study guides with mastery tracking and spaced repetition
🎙️ Call with Kai — a voice tutor that quizzes students out loud
🎮 Ready-to-use review games & podcasts made from your existing lesson plans
📝 AP Hub with practice questions and mock exams for every course

No extra prep for you. Just making it more interactive for them — using the material you’re already teaching.

A few days ago, in our new DTT Community, Dustin Rimmey (aka “Rimmey”) posted this fantastic Canva template!

It looks like a GoFundMe campaign, with a title/image/description of the reason the funds are being sought — as well as how much has been raised and the donors.

And, like all of the free Google Slides and PowerPoint templates in our library, Rimmey has made everything editable for students.

He wrote: “This might feel like the most off-the-rails idea for a “social media” template activity for students. I thought about it at length, and really, this is an interesting case for persuasive and/or argumentative writing in a short form to a massive audience! This is a shower thought meets asking Claude some questions meets Canva during my plan time!”

ONE WAY TO USE IT: It made me think of inventions — like Edison and the light bulb. Write a headline/description as if you were Edison recruiting support for your new invention. The donors section could be people in history who supported him. (Or, if you want to have fun, put Tesla in there with a negative amount … as if he stole from the campaign!)

JOIN THE COMMUNITY: Join the free DTT Community to read ideas like this, connect with other educators, discuss, and share ideas of your own.

Have fun with this free template — and read Rimmey’s post about it, too!

PS: Afterward, he wrote: “Tomorrow I’ll also work on a Kickstarter and Patreon version! All work with the same theme, but also asks the students to create perks to give backers, which may be a good touch since that is the model we see with a lot of today’s kids.”

If you’re not familiar with the tool here’s the scoop.

NotebookLM is a free, AI-powered research assistant that acts like an instant expert on the specific documents you give it. Whether you're uploading PDFs, websites, or Google Docs, it goes beyond simple summaries to create "Studio" resources like podcast-style audio overviews, interactive study guides, and even infographics.

For teachers and students alike, it’s a game-changer for synthesizing dense information and turning static resources into dynamic, conversational learning tools.

NotebookLM is powerful — but only if you know the right moves. Thats why we created two cheat sheets to cut through the learning curve and give you (and your students) the exact features, prompts, and strategies that actually save time in a real classroom.

👩🏻‍🏫 Teacher Cheat Sheet: Studio tools, copy-paste prompts & 5 ready-to-use classroom strategies

👨🏻‍🎓Student Guide: Power prompts, active learning techniques & an AI ethics checklist

Here are a few tips and tricks that you might miss in NotebookLM if you aren’t paying attention — or if someone hasn’t told you!

Back in January we updated our post Google NotebookLM for teachers: 10 things to know for educators where we highlighted the new features in Google NotebookLM.

This time around we made a few more updates including highlighting some of the ideas from our incredible Ditch That Textbook community.

The education community is already finding inventive ways to weave NotebookLM into the fabric of the school day. It’s not just about doing things faster; it’s about doing things that weren't possible before. It's a hot topic and prompted a great discussion inside of our Ditch That Textbook online community.

Note: Are you a member of the DTT community yet? No? Well click this link to join us!

Deanna Cross uses the tool for high-level data analysis. By uploading spreadsheets from various testing platforms (using student numbers to maintain confidentiality), she asks the AI to find trends and patterns that might be invisible to the naked eye.

When faced with dense curriculum packages, Kerry Fergason uses the tool to "internalize" the content. It helps her quickly decide which sections to prioritize, where to differentiate, and what can be skipped to better serve her specific students.

Deb White describes her notebooks as a "Wakelet on steroids." She uses them to organize background knowledge, articles, and assignments in one interactive space where students can search for answers across multiple documents at once.

Ariella Pardo uses NotebookLM as a "Thinking Partner." By uploading lesson materials, she can ask the AI to generate guiding questions or predict where students might struggle before the lesson even begins, allowing for proactive planning.

To get a pulse on the classroom, Hatice Karaaslan uploads raw student survey responses. NotebookLM then generates compact reports and summary infographics that make student feedback easy to visualize and act upon.

Many teachers are using the Audio Overview as the perfect "Hook." By creating a 2-minute, podcast-style introduction to a new unit, they can spark immediate interest and curiosity before the heavy reading begins.

Erich Dorzab has his students "chat" with a novel they’ve just finished. Students use the AI to hunt down specific evidence and quotes to support their claims in essays, turning the search for citations into a conversation.

In a unique twist for creative writing, Vaughn Jennings has students listen to a generated podcast about the books they wrote. Hearing "experts" discuss their work gives students a massive sense of professional accomplishment and pride.

Power users like Brent Mischnick and Don Sturm have mastered the workflow of taking NotebookLM content further. They download the audio files to listen to research during their commutes, or move generated visuals into Canva to polish the design.

Karen Szczytko takes the output a step further by generating slide shows within the tool and then converting them into instructional videos using Google Vids. This creates a seamless bridge between raw research and student-facing video lessons.

There are even more ways I can support you in the important work you do in education: